Fighting the Beast from Within

The Palestine solidarity movement in NYC through 2024

This has been a devastating year for Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered, injured, and displaced from their homes by Israel’s relentless genocidal campaign against them. The solidarity movement in the U.S. has struggled to find a mode of action that can produce a response in our favor. It is undeniable that nothing we have done has stopped the genocide. But that does not mean we will stop trying.

In fact, it is our duty to find new ways to agitate, to disrupt, and to confront power –– to turn away in despair right now is to abandon those who cannot escape the consequences of American war-mongering and imperialism. We live in the belly of the beast; here are a few of my favorite ways we tried to poison it in 2024.  ––Cheryl Rivera

The Student Encampments

Columbia University students kicked off a nationwide wave of campus encampments and protests on April 17 when a small group of 50 students took over green space with tents. By the time students occupied Hamilton Hall on April 30, renaming it for Hind Rajab, a child killed in Gaza, over 100 campuses across the nation had revolted against their administrations. The youth will lead us to the future!

The Culture Front

Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG) has led an intense campaign against the New York Times and its documented bias against Palestinians. On March 14, actionists set up a blockade at the paper’s Queens distribution center while another group occupied the Times‘ lobby in Midtown Manhattan. Since then, WAWOG has not let up off the gas: they’ve gone after executive editors at their homes (see you next time, Joe Kahn), digitized their protest paper the New York War Crimes, and led a high-profile pressure campaign against PEN America. Propaganda is back, comrades.

The Return of the Banner Drop

On Thanksgiving, an anonymous group of actionists took to the Queensboro Bridge to “remind us that fascism here or anywhere is linked to genocide here and everywhere.” In a world of digital dominance and the Canva protest flyer, the banner drop is a refreshingly tactile way to announce to the world what we’re all about.

Here’s to getting more physical in 2025, whatever you think that means!